The present invention relates to speakers, and more specifically, to a speaker array assembly positioned to emit sound through a multi-layered porous display.
As mobile devices increase in size, the relative size of the speaker hole becomes smaller and smaller. This means that when a user holds the device to his or her ear, there is a smaller chance that the user will hold the speaker to his or her ear. Frequently, a user places the screen of the device, rather than the speaker, against his or her ear, muffling the sound and forcing the user to readjust the device so that he or she can hear.
One solution to this problem is to place the speaker behind a porous, acoustically-permeable screen. In this configuration, the sound emanates directly from the screen, eliminating the need for a speaker hole on the face of the device. But these pores are visible to a user, creating dead-spots in the screen that do not produce any light. A user looking at the dead-spot-covered screen will be undesirably distracted by the points on the screen that do not display the image.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an acoustically-permeable screen that does not create unsightly dead-spots.